Moviegoers in foreign markets are still sealing their bond with “Avatar.”
As expected, James Cameron’s 3D epic dominated the overseas circuit again, taking an estimated $133.5 million over the long weekend en route to its crossing the $1 billion mark worldwide. So far, foreign audiences have accounted for $670 million of its $1.022 billion, with U.S. moviegoers spending $352.1 million at the domestic box office.
“Avatar” leapfrogs “The Dark Knight” (1.001 billion) into fourth place for all-time worldwide revenues (see chart, right, from BoxOfficeMojo.com; click here for the complete list). Rounding out the top five: "Titanic" ($1.843 billion); "The Lord of the
Rings: The Return of the King" ($1.119 billion); and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" ($1.066 billion). And it shows no signs of a big dropoff: The film slid only 13 percent offshore from the previous weekend.
Warners’ "Sherlock Homes" continued to draw in the No. 2 spot in foreign markets, taking in $37.6 million from 4,600 screens. Repeating in third was Fox's family-oriented title "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," which grossed $32 million from 6,105 locations in 54 markets.
"Black Lightning," the Russian superhero flick co-produced by Universal and producer-director Timur Bekmambetov, took fourth place with its debut in Russia, Estonia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Latvia, with $9.7 million from 800 screens.
“The Princess and the Frog" hopped along at No. 5, drawing $9.5 million from 2,929 screens in 17 territories. The Disney Animation film’s cumulative overseas take stands at $45 million.
And still generating decent box-office revenues overseas are the 2009 films "2012," which added $4.9 million to arrive at $595.2 million cumulative; and Pixar/Disney's "Up," which has grossed a total of $422 million offshore.
